Borderlands 2 reimagined
by devilnightking100
Summary: In which Jack is a good guy, Blake takes Jack's spot as the antagonist, and a strange new vault hunter seems to know more than he's letting on. How will this change the story we all know and love? T because Borderlands and may change to M if I'm feeling really pervy by the time I hit a certain point
1. Train Ride

_**This hasn't left me alone since the second time I read Jack: The Hero, so I figured why the hell not? An OOC warning is in heavy effect, as I haven't played all the characters yet and I run the risk of not getting said characters right, also Jack's not as twisted even if he still has an ego the size of Elpis. Other than that, please enjoy the story and know I'll probably write a sequel covering Elpis after this just like the games.**_

 _ **Also, I'm not describing people unless it's my OC since if you've played the game, you know what people look like. Seems kinda pointless, right?**_

 _ **Darkness and Light, Into the Chaos!**_

The five individuals stepped onto the train, waiting for their employer to appear. Each had their weapons at the ready in case the whole thing was a set-up, and the fact they were on Pandora didn't help, but soon the doors opened to reveal the Hyperion CEO, Handsome Jack. The man who used his company resources to aid the more civilized towns with food, supplies, and the occasional GUN Loader for the towns having problems with bandit camps. "Hello kiddies. You must be the Vault Hunters we hired." he greeted.

"Although I think there's a certain Psycho on the side of the train at the moment, right Maya?" came a smug voice behind him. The blue-haired siren looked past the brunette man to see a blonde man maybe a couple years older than Gaige with a gun strapped to either of his legs and a sniper rifle slung across his back. "Not that it's going to be a problem, mind you." the blonde added.

Jack turned to admonish his companion, but heard the tell-tale voice of his Loaders saying, "Enemy sighted."

"Get to cover!" Jack snapped, ducking behind one of the crates before arming his blaster bracelets. The GUN Loaders started shooting a second after. "Michel, why do the Loaders have a murder-on for us?" the CEO demanded, firing over the crate he was using.

The blonde unholstered his SMG marked _Belladonna_ before pulling the trigger. "Don't know, but let's worry about that after we've busted them." he replied, the corrosive bullets doing their job easily enough. The rest of the Vault Hunters leaped into action, firing their weapons and (in Axton and Gaige's cases) deploying their signature weapons in the turret and DeathTrap.

"Wow! That...is a cool robot." Jack gasped.

 **Jack as**

 **Himself**

 **Why mess with perfection?**

"I'd love to take it apart later, but we need to focus on not dying and the fact these things have me pinned." Michel replied, changing clips on _Belladonna._ The GUN Loaders on the sides found themselves blasted apart by Axton's turret. "The Commando's little girlfriend is pretty good too." the blonde boy added, holstering _Belladonna_ before sliding the sniper rifle off his shoulder. "Say hello to my old friend, _Sinon_." he cackled before pulling the trigger, blowing off the nearest Loader's arm before DeathTrap sliced it down the middle.

 **Michel as**

 **The Enigma**

 **No info available**

Maya phaselocked an EXP Loader before Salvador used his duel assault rifles to blow it to kingdom come, putting a lot of bullet holes in the side, which became a full hole as Krieg busted in. "I'M GONNA PUT MY PAIN INTO YOUR SOUL!" he bellowed, swinging his buzz saw ax and slicing another Loader in half.

"Is that a psycho?" Jack questioned. "What's he doing here?"

"That would be Krieg." Michel replied, watching the last of the Loaders fell. Standing and seeing Zer0 appearing beside him, the blonde man said, "Let's move into another car. Don't want any more surprises." The six Vault Hunters followed Jack and the enigma to the next car, which was incredibly dark. The Hyperion duo hit the switch and saw the car full of dynamite. "Oh crap."

A chair with a dummy strapped to it turned to the group, a dummy fashioned after vice president Blake. A speaker sounded. "Sorry Jack, but you've become too soft. Consider this a hostile takeover by someone who will truly tame Pandora." Blake's voice came through.

"Everybody brace!" Axton called, moving toward Gaige while Krieg pushed Maya behind him. No one else had time to react as the car exploded.

 _ **And done. Well, Blake's taken Jack's spot as the main antagonist and a stranger has been introduced. For anyone wondering about the gun names let me explain, Belladonna is a type of poisonous plant, hence why it was a corrosive weapon. Sinon is the sniper who helps Kirito in Sword Art Online 2 and easily my favorite of the girls of that anime, sorry Asuna. I'll post Michel's abilities later, but for now I guess I'll see you next time the plot bunny bites me, so until next time!**_


	2. Getting Claptrap's Eye

_**Darkness and Light, Into the Chaos!**_

Michel was ignoring Claptrap for the most part. Seriously, the thing could prattle on forever. Instead he was looking over _Sinon._ The poor rifle was in need of repairs, but he had no supplies to fix his custom gun, any of them really. He had lost _Belladonna_ in the snow and had no illusions about finding the SMG. His pistol, _Volcario_ was still securely strapped to his leg but the mechanism that lit the bullets on fire was completely fried. He would need some Hyperion weaponry later to fix that, but he had access to none.

Turning his attention to his attention from his precious weapons to Claptrap, who seemed to be yelling at Jack for discontinuing his product line, the enigma began to notice this particular robot looked rather familiar. Wait, was this thing _That_ CL4P-TP? He would have to look over the robot's wiring later. "And now that there are no more CL4P-TP units being built, I have to scavenge for parts from all the busted units you dump here where I have to do everything I can to keep the bullymogs out!"

As if his words had conjured the beast, a giant bullymog, Knuckle Dragger if Michel remembered right, came through the roof and stole the annoying robot's eye before disappearing into the snow. The six Vault Hunters, earlier scavenging for Health Now! vials looked over toward the commotion. "Guns in the locker, right?" Maya asked, looking over to the cabinet.

"Th-that's right." a very injured Claptrap replied. The locker opened to reveal not only a pistol, but an SMG, assault rifle, and shotgun that were given to Axton, Salvador, Gaige, and Maya respectively. Zero drew his sword and Kreig his ax before they stacked up at the door. "Let me just get the door open, minions." the robot called, pressing a few buttons before the dorr opened. "Forward! And please let me know if I'm gonna run into anything." Claptrap requested. No one bothered to tell him about the block of ice which he assumed no one noticed. "Alright, let's get my eye back! If I know Knuckle Dragger, he took it to Frostbite Crevasse."

The Vault Hunters, Michel, and Jack followed close behind, the latter two hanging back. "Jack, does Claptrap look kinda _familiar_ to you?" the blonde man asked his boss.

"Yeah, that's probably the CL4P-TP I redesigned, but I turned off all his Vault Hunter programing." Jack replied. "Why? Thinking of turning it back on?"

"Something like that." Michel replied, sighing as he readjusted his backpack and followed the rest.

...

"I am all that is Man!" Sal called, pulling a Dahl pistol and firing it along with his assault rifle. He began unloading on any bullymog near the group as Gaige and Michel were digging Claptrap out of the snow. Zer0 and Krieg swung their melee weapons as the moglets came closer.

"THERE'S NO FENCE ON THIS FENCE!" the psycho declared, cutting a Brat Bullymog with his ax. Another tried to sneak up on him, but was soon found in a phaselock from Maya before being decapitated.

"I love my powers!" Maya chuckled. "Hey big guy, think you can keep going?"

"NEVER STOP THE KILLING! NEVER!" Krieg replied, cutting another bullymog in half.

The group soon finished off the bullymogs and Claptrap was moving again. That was when everyone's ECHOs came to life. "Hello everyone, Jeffery Blake here, and I must say I'm disappointed by the results of my train attempts. If you could please off yourselves, I would very much appreciate it."

"You wanna say it or should I?" Jack asked. Receiving a shrug from Michel, Jack turned to his ECHO and replied, "Screw you Johnny! When the Vault Hunters and I get to Sanctuary, we're gonna be taking back my company! Then I think I'll call Wilhelm in to play with you. I promise you this, it's gonna be painful."

Michel smirked at his boss's declaration before his ECHO played static and displayed Angel's avatar. "Hey, so please tell me you're heading to Sanctuary with that funny robot." she said.

"Don't worry, Angel. The Vault Hunters, your dad, and I are going to get his eye back and head to Sanctuary right after. It would be fun if my guns weren't busted and _Belladonna_ didn't vanish into the snow."

" _Belladonna's_ missing? I'm sorry to hear that. I know how much it meant to you." the siren sighed. "I think there are some parts to fix _Sinon_ and _Volcario_ in the barge on the way to Liars Berg, but you'll have to be patient."

"Thanks Angel. I appreciate that." Michel admitted with a smile. Angel's avatar faded and the blonde moved up with the rest. "What's the score?" he asked.

"My eye just came back online!" Claptrap replied. "I see a hansom robot, seven tough looking minions, and a product-killing douche-bag." Only Jack didn't have to resist the urge to chuckle at the robot's description of him. "Which means that whoever has my eye..." the robot realized. Everyone with a functioning weapon drew it. "Is really close!"

A loud bellow filled the area as the giant bullymog with the robot's eye around it's neck appeared over the top of the supply crate.

 **Knuckle Dragger**

 **This is gonna hurt**

"Exterminate!" Gaige called, summoning Deathtrap. Sal pulled out his double guns and started firing. Axton threw out his turret while Kreig and Zero rushed the creature.

It was only a few seconds before Knuckle Dragger retreated and more bullymogs bellowed. "Oh god! They're coming out of the wall sphincters!" Claptrap gasped, running for cover. Michel was cursing his luck, not having a functioning weapon and being useless in the fight.

It wasn't too long for the fight to finish though. It was seven on one and Knuckle Dragger didn't really stand a chance. "Check the loot, I'll grab the eye." Jack called. The Vault Hunters started picking up the cash and inspecting the guns that had been dropped.

"Holy shit, this is the Twin Hornet!" Axton gasped, picking up the pistol. "Double bullet burst fire with corrosive rounds. Now _this_ is a Dahl gun." he declared.

"Not a single Hyperion firearm!" Michel snarled, throwing the pistols every which way. "Dahl, Jackobs, even a freaking Atlas, but no Hyperion! I can't use this stuff!"

"Do you guys have my eye?" Claptrap asked, oblivious to Michel's discontent and Axton's happiness. "Great! Now we just need to find someone to put it in me. Much as I'm sure you guys would love to put your fists into my skull, this procedure is best left to the professionals! My buddy Hammerlock can fix me up no problem!"

"Umm.. or I could install it. You are a Hyperion robot after all." Jack informed.

"Oh no! You'll just shut me off and leave me here to rot! No way am I trusting you with this!" Claptrap snapped, wheeling away.

...

The door locked itself and Michel sighed. "Jack, shall we?" he asked.

"Let me get that for you." Angel's voice cut in. Her avatar appeared on the lock console and Michel smiled as he watched the "AI" work. "Executing Phase Shift." The door opened and the group stepped in. "Take whatever you need, it's a long road to Sanctuary." Michel whooped as he saw the parts he needed to get his weapons functional again while the rest of the Vault Hunters began searching the barge for better weaponry.

Michel was oblivious to the world as he set to work on _Sinon._

 _ **And done! Seems Angel and Michel are in close contact, and the latter is about to fix his guns. Fun fact, during my new game with Sal, I actually got the Twin Hornet. Not ditching that anytime soon! Now, to avoid any confusion about his behavior, let me give you a small bit of the Enigma abilities.**_

 _ **Action Skill: Double Trouble- The Enigma pulls a second firearm from his selection and target critical points on hostiles. Basically it's a fusion of Sal's Gunzerking and Nisha's Showdown**_

 _ **Active secondary Skills: Tinkering- By dropping three Hyperion weapons, the Enigma has a 10% times skill level to combine them into a higher rairity gun. Current Skill level: 1**_

 _ **With that out of the way, leave a review of what you thought and I guess I'll see you in Liars Berg next time!**_


	3. Liar's Berg

_**I had to use a generator for Zer0's dialogue, be nice please.**_

 _ **Darkness and Light, Into the Chaos!**_

Michel watched the gate collapse from his sniper perch. He and Zer0 had decided to get to a decent position before having Claptrap open the door. Now looking down the scope of his newly repaired _Sinon,_ he lined the dot with a bandit's head and smirked, pulling the trigger with a whispered, "Bang." The bandit's head blew up in a spectacular show of blood.

In Liar's Berg, Jack and Gaige were firing shots at a couple bandits that had noticed the two snipers and started trying to get them. "You're pretty good with that thing for such a small fry." Jack commented, watching the mechromancer blow another bandit back with the force of her Vladf shotgun before she began reloading it.

"I ain't a small fry!" the redhead replied, firing her gun again. "I'm a woman of science."

Jack chuckled before seeing a psycho rush up behind her. "Look out!" he warned, shoving Gaige aside before shooting his bracelet, causing the psycho to convulse before being put down by Kreig.

"STRIP THE FLESH!" the Vault Hunter Psycho shouted, rushing toward the still sizeable group of Flynt's bandits with his ax held high and ignoring the bullets. They would heal when Krieg killed them anyway.

Michel popped another bandit before setting his sights on the much-larger bandit. "Shit, Badass in my crosshairs." the blonde warned through his ECHO. He put three bullets in the guy's head and tsked. "Okay, one shot in the brain should kill anyone, how is this guy still shooting?" he demanded form no one in particular.

Zer0 chose to speak anyway, killing the Badass as he did so. "Meandering thoughts/A social, tough bandit kill/despite the armor."

 _He really does that? I thought it was some gimmick for the game._ Michel wondered, lining the sights of _Sinon_ with the approaching bullymogs.

…

The Vault Hunters and Hyperion duo laughed as Claptrap walked right into the electric fence during a delusional speech about how he and Hammerlock were close. Said hunter, scholar, and gentleman stepped out a moment later and took the eye from Axton. Michel spoke up immediately. "One second before you reboot him please." he requested, opening the robot's control panel. "Sweet, you are Fragtrap." he muttered. "Don't have the parts for the stair-climbing wheel right now, but I can put some of your functions back online. Just cross these wires, touch up on this, activate this memory chip and switch this one off."

"How do you know how to program my Vault Hunter bot?" Jack asked, a little off-put by his companion's familiarity with _his_ design.

"Angel and I look over some of your blueprints when we're both bored. I also noticed some issues with BNK-3R we fixed before you had him installed at the Core." Michel replied absently, still fiddling with Claptrap's programing.

"There were no issues designing BNK-3R, I designed it!" Jack protested.

"And that's why you didn't notice the lack of failsafe in case there was a system malfunction and it couldn't deploy. Hey, can you pass me my ECHO? I think I can fix the bugs in the Vault programing, but I need to use one of my personal algorithms."

Jack looked about ready to blow a gasket so Maya ended up handing the device to the blonde. A few more seconds and Claptrap flipped to his wheel. "I am ALIVE!"

"Oh dear, he's talking again." Hammerlock sighed.

"Protocol Neo." Michel said quickly. It was clear Claptrap was still talking by the way he was moving, but it was like he had been put on mute. Smiling cheekily, Michel turned to the gentleman and asked, "So, shall we get the power running again?"

...

"So what did you do to Claptrap anyway?" Angel asked over the ECHOnet that night. The gang had decided after hunting bullymogs in town and getting a new shield for everyone, as well as killing the Midgetmog (which was freaking fun and he got an okay assault rifle out of it) they would rest in Liar's Berg and get Claptrap's ship tomorrow. Thanks to the lack of population in the town at the moment, finding rooms for everyone hadn't been an issue. Michel had insisted on sleeping alone and no one seemed prone to argument.

"While I was fixing the glitch in the Vault program, I installed Protocol Neo, that silencing program we were going to put into the Loaders so they weren't so easy to dodge." Michel explained. "Your dad didn't seem very appreciative of my calling him out though."

Angel giggled. "To be fair, even though he didn't go complete killer psycho he still has a huge ego that you probably bruised." she replied.

Michel chuckled as he checked over his guns. "True, true. Anyway, any luck getting into contact with the others?" he asked, reaching for one of his tools.

"Athena is keeping her head down, and Wilhelm doesn't seem to care about your well-being since Hyperion is paying his bills." the siren informed. "I haven't been able to reach anyone else. Dad is calling Nisha right now, Aurelia is god-only-knows where, and Timothy has been MIA for almost a month now."

"We may have a lead on that." Michel sighed, remembering what Hammerlock had said earlier that day. "Blake stole a Body Double's voice modulator to make it seem like Jack's responsible for the berserk Loaders and slaughtered people we've been getting reports of. That's what we get for letting someone besides the three of us check something out."

"You think Blake killed Timothy." Angel determined.

"Right. And quite frankly I'm worried about what will happen at the Core now that Blake has control of Hyperion. He won't be able to get in without the password, but there's still the major issue of the Wall and BNK-3R. Have you noticed anything off about the programs in there?"

"Nothing worth mentioning. Just the basic bugs I fix every day in the Angel Guards." Michel could feel Angel shrug as she told him that. "Somehow I doubt that's going to stop you from coming to see me yourself, though."

"Damn right it won't." Michel replied, putting his tools away. "First chance I get, I'm coming to check on you personally. Your dad won't be far behind me either, I can guarantee you that." Grabbing his ECHO and flopping onto the hard mattress, he continued, "So, how much have you actually been listening to when we're in the field? You're so quiet during the day it's hard to tell if you're there."

The two chatted for another hour before Michel yawned loudly. "You need to get some sleep. Captain Flynt won't be an easy fight, and you're not fighting with all your usual arsenal."

"You have a point." Michel conceded. "Night Angel, see you tomorrow."

"Night Michel." Angel replied. The enigma could have sworn he heard the siren say something else, but the line went dead before he could ask her to repeat herself. Oh well, it probably wasn't important.

 _ **And done. This feels rushed, does it look rushed? Well, in any event the next time I come to this story I'll be sending the small army of Vault Hunters to handle Captain Flynt. And how did I do for this chapter overall? Just leave a review and tell me what you thought, and I'll see you next time!**_


	4. Journey to Sanctuary Part 1

_**Darkness and Light, Into the Chaos!**_

Gaige smirked as Deathtrap shredded another of Boom and Bewm's psychos. Between the total destruction of the more close-range Vault Hunters(her, Axton, Sal, and Kreig) and the precision killing of the long-range fighters (Zer0, Michel, Maya, and Jack but he was more mid-range), they were moving through Flynt's crew easily. They had progressed farther in five minutes than what the redhead thought she could do solo in two hours. Her Anarchy was stacking nicely too as she cocked her shotgun before turning toward a psycho midget and blowing his head off, reloading her gun before turning toward Boom.

She didn't get a chance to fire as his head exploded courtesy of Zer0's sniper shot. Claptrap moved over to the gate and snarled as much as he could. "Damn locked door. Oh, idea! Use that cannon to blow the door open! Just don't fire until I'm clear, it could do serious damage to meeeeeeee!" the robot screamed, flying into the distance.

"Salvador!" Gaige berated.

"What? He said shoot the gate, so I shot the gate." the gunzerker defended.

Michel's voice came over the ECHOs. "We can worry about that later, I'm reading a lot of bandits coming to plug the hole so open fire with that monstrosity." he ordered. Just as he finished speaking, bandits came flooding out the now destroyed gate. Sal just grinned as he shot the cannon, Axton and Maya picking off the stragglers.

...

An hour later, the Vault Hunter gang, now nine strong due to Michel shoving one of the Jakobs revolvers into Claptrap's hands and saying go to work, was standing on the main deck of the Soaring Dragon. They probably could have made it sooner if some people (cough cough...Axton and Salvador...cough...and Jack...cough) hadn't taken a good fifteen minutes to gawk at the fleshy pictures of Pandora's finest piece of ass, Mad Moxxi. Claptrap had made a declaration that he had returned, and the bandits flooded.

All hell broke loose after that. Between Deathtrap and Axton's turret, no one could get close to the Vault Hunters, and the ones who did found themselves on the reciving end of either Zer0's sword, Kreig's Ax, or the Hyperion duo's elementally charged blasts.

More bandits flooded onto the deck, and the group was starting to get overwhelmed. "Talk to me people, how are we doing?" Jack demanded.

"Still twenty seconds before Vault is back online, and I'm running low on ammo. Maybe three clips left." Claptrap reported.

"Same for me and Deathtrap." Gaige added. The rest gave similar reports. Abilities still coming back online and running low on ammo with bullets whizzing over their heads.

"Michel, any bright ideas?" Jack asked his top employee.

"Thirty-five round clip, point three seconds between shots, corrosive bullets, accuracy level increasing by almost double with sustained fire." the blonde was muttering.

"Um... aren't those the stats for-?" Jack began, looking slightly worried.

"That bandit has my _Belladonna_!" Michel snarled, grabbing a pistol that had landed next to him and pulling _Volcario_ from his leg before backflipping out of cover. **"Blood makes the grass grow!"** he screamed, aiming at the heads of the two nearest bandits and pulling the triggers. They dropped instantly and Michel landed, firing two more bullets into the throats of the burning psychos and killing them. A couple nomads attempted to flank him, but he shot them in the head without looking before gunning down three marauders and two killer marauders.

"Um...what the fuck?" Axton asked, voicing the confusion of the six Vault Hunters. They were just struggling with these bandits pinning them down and now the enigma was gunning them down like it was nothing.

"He gets like that sometimes, best to just stay back and use what long-range guns we've got to lay out covering fire." Jack replied, digistructing a sniper rifle Zer0 though he had discarded earlier in favor of the one he was using right now.

"Screw that, let's get in there!" Gaige snapped, cocking her shotgun as Michel started shooting bandits Tomb Raider style.

"You really wanna get in the middle of that?" Maya questioned, following Jack's lead.

"Even I'm not that crazy!" Sal declared, his own sniper rifle in hand. In the next few seconds, the bandits had been gunned down with the exception of Flynt himself, which Claptrap was fighting with a pair of Jakobs revolvers, his Funzerker protocol activated as he shot at the bandit leader. Flynt fell in a matter of seconds and Claptrap began searching him for any decent loot.

Michel, calming from his battle high, walked over to the bandit he remembered had put him in said state to begin with and picked up the SMG with _Belladonna_ written across the barrel. "My baby, I've got you back in my arms at last." he cooed, picking up the gun how one would pick up an infant.

"That's weird, right?" Axton wondered aloud.

"You get used to it." Jack shrugged, looking around for any decent vendor trash.

"Bloody bandit's hand/An inch, treasured gun returned/unto the owner." Zer0 declared sagely. Michel holstered his SMG and returned to the rest of the group.

"So, shall we get moving?" he asked, a cheeky smile on his face.

"LITTLE STRANGER IS GREAT MEAT BUDDY!" Krieg declared. Everyone turned to where Claptrap was fiddling with a door's controls.

...

One boat ride later, the group found themselves driving a small envoy of Light Runners toward Sanctuary, where bandits were trying to get the gate open. "Open fire?" Michel asked over the ECHO.

"Open fire." Jack replied with a chuckle. Rockets and bullets filled the air and the bandits soon were nothing more than scattered body parts and bloody corpses.

Axton pressed the intercom and a voice came through. "I told you Bloodshot slaglickers that you're not getting into...wait, you're Vault Hunters! One moment, let me ECHO Roland. He wanted to talk to you all."

"Well, time to see if Roland is still a good guy." Jack sighed as the familiar voice of the soldier came over their ECHOs.

 _ **And done. I'll probably start the next one with attacking the Bloodshot encampment, ending it around when the gang meets Lilith. So...what did you guys think? I'm especially proud of Michel's reclaiming of Belladonna. Well, leave a review telling me what you liked and what you didn't. Flames will be responded to with Krieg's Buzz Saw Ax and Deathtrap, and I'll see you next time!**_


	5. Journey to Sanctuary Part 2

_**Alright, let's get this underway.**_

 _ **Darkness and Light, Into the Chaos!**_

Jack snarled as he closed Reiss's eyes. "This is why I hate bandits." he declared. The rest of the group nodded. Roland had sent the Vault Hunters to find Reiss and the power core he was bringing to Sanctuary. They had found him being beaten by a trio of psychos before they were gunned down by an enraged Axton, Salvador, and Krieg. Maya had tried to heal the fallen Raider, but to no avail as he passed in her arms.

The group's ECHOs crackled before Roland's voice was heard. "Reiss is dead? Damn. He was one of the first men I recruited into the Crimson Raiders." Roland paused before he was heard again. "Find that shield core, Vault Hunters. And kill some of those Bloodshots while you're at it. It's what Reiss would have wanted." The ECHOS went dead before the group got back into their Light Runners, aiming for the new waypoint on their minimaps.

…

 **"Exterminate!"** Gaige called, digistructing Deathtrap before shooting an approaching Psycho.

 **"Sentry out!"** Axton declared, throwing his turret. Sal and Krieg were shooting and slicing with reckless abandon and Maya Phaselocked an approaching nomad before filling him full of her SMG's ammo clip.

 **"Blood makes the grass grow!"** Michel shouted, unholstering _Belladona_ and _Volcario_ before leaping into the middle of the Bloodshot horde. He fired two shots from the pistol towards the bandits on his right before the SMG mowed down the bandits on his left. It was a slaughter fest from there as the Vault Hunters butchered the Bloodshot Bandits before Jack grabbed the core.

"Let's get this thing to Sanctuary." The Hyperion president declared, walking toward the cars the group had parked outside the camp.

The ECHOs cracked to life again. "You have the core? Great." Roland said. "Get it to Sanctuary and...SHIT! I'm under attack, just" the transmission cut.

"Angel." Jack ordered.

"On it. Get to Sanctuary for now, I'll let you know when I've found Roland." Angel replied before the group's ECHOs went dead once more.

...

"Well that was...strange." Gaige declared, stepping out of Scooter's Garage.

"Angel did say he was a few chromosomes short." Maya reminded.

"Jack and I will get the core from Earl. You guys work on installing the ones we already have." Michel ordered, walking off with the Hyperion duo.

Sal waited until the Hyperion duo was out of sight before speaking. "So, what do you all think of our new amigos?"

"NIPPLE SALADS!" Krieg replied. The others had more sane and understandable replies which were as follows.

"Jack's a bit of an egotist, but he seems alright." This coming from Maya.

"They're both badass fighters, but Michel seems to be holding information from us." Axton added.

"Neighbourly allies/A dear, hard pandoran find/in spite of the world." was Zer0's input.

"Long as they're on our side, who cares? I say let em shoot!" was Gaige's predicable input.

Surprisingly, Claptrap was the most helpful. "Well they're certainly strange at times, Jack and Michel are great fighters and even better strategists. Of course if Jack and I went toe-to-toe he wouldn't last, but hey I'm awesome!" Everyone took that last bit with an eye roll before resuming their conversation about the Hyperion duo.

...

"So," Jack began, walking just behind Michel. "You remember how to get there, right?"

"Of course I remember. I used to visit any time I had eridium when I played." the blonde replied with an eye roll.

"Yeah I know, but it has been years and it's still hard to think of this whole thing being a game somewhere." Jack replied. "And now that we've established you do know where to go, how about telling me just how much you and my daughter have been in contact."

Michel flinched. "How much do you know?" he asked warily. Jack may not be the paranoid psycho the blonde was familiar with, but that could change at a moment's notice.

"Just that you've looked over blueprints together and the call you two shared back in Liar's Berg." Jack replied, his tone jovial if slightly accusing.

"Okay, so Angel and I may be in... constant contact." Michel admitted. "But it's not like we're dating or anything."

"Now Michel, if Angel's secret gets out." Jack warned.

"It won't." Michel hissed with enough venom to cut Jack's retort before they arrived at Crazy Earl's shop. Michel knocked on the door and the slot slid open. The pair used the eridium that they had gotten from Scooter to buy some extra ammo storage for Michel's SMG and another chunk they had picked up along the way to do the same for his Pistol ammo. Taking the core, the blonde turned to his brunette companion. "Shall we?" he asked in what Jack could only describe as suppressed anger.

"Yeah...let's." Jack replied, backing down for the first time he could remember against the blonde enigma. The Vault Hunters installed the energy cores to no effect, causing Scooter to recommend checking HQ to see where Roland could have gone.

Upon hearing "The Firehawk's" ECHO, Michel paled. "Um... maybe Jack and I should sit this one out. Got a few things to earn us some ammo funds around here and all that." the blonde said nervously.

"Umm, why?" Jack asked, confused at his employee's sudden shift in attitude. Michel whispered into the brunette man's ear and Jack shrugged. "She'll find out when she gets back here anyway, why not rip the band-aid off instead of prolonging the inevitable." The Hyperion CEO questioned. Michel whispered something again and Jack sighed. "Alright, you have a point there." he conceded. "Angel, mark the Firehawk's location on the Vault Hunters' ECHOs."

"Right away, Jack." Angel's voice came through before waypoints appeared on the minimaps.

"Michel and I will get some work done around Sanctuary, but if things get too hairy out there, call us in. The Fast Travel will be active when you guys pass it so it won't be a problem for us to get there." Jack finished, earning confused looks from the rest of the group.

…

"This ain't no place for no hero. This ain't no place for a better man." Michel sung quietly, shooting a feravore's thrown ice block out of the sky with the Runner's turret.

"It appears feravore is already copyrighted." Hammerlock informed over the ECHOnet. "This is so frustrating, I'm tired of coming up with new-you know what? Bonerfarts. That's right we're calling them Bonerfarts now. Just kill a few of them, I don't care anymore."

Jack laughed loudly enough to attract the Bonerfarts toward them before he opened fire with the hood-mounted machine gun. "Bonerfarts? Wow, this guy has absolutely no class when it comes to names."

"Buttstallion." Michel said casually, shooting another of the giant creatures attempting to jump on the car.

"Touché." Jack chuckled, finishing off the last of the renamed bullymogs. "Alright, let's get back and get paid for this."

"Dad, Michel, I've located Roland's ECHO signal. The Bloodshots seem to have him and are holding him for ransom." Angel informed on the drive back. "The Vault Hunters are already on their way, but I'm also hearing a lot of ECHO chatter from Hyperion. It looks like they're sending a W4RD3N along with a LOT of Loaders."

"Makes sense," Jack shrugged. "Why pay a ransom when you can send in a bunch of robots?"

"He's playing you better than you would." Michel muttered, looking over the info Angel had sent. Looking to Jack, he said, "Let's go. That many bots and _Belladonna_ is going to come in REAL handy." Jack nodded as the pair headed for the Fast Travel. Just as they reached it, the machine whirled to life. Lilith took form in front of them, catching sight of the Hyperion duo and making her tattoos flare to life. "Sup?" he asked nervously.

 _ **And done! Well, how do you think this is going to go? Will Lilith listen to reason? Or will Michel and Jack need the New-U station? Well, see you guys next time and don't forget to leave a review telling me what you've thought.**_


	6. Rescuing Roland Part 1

**_Darkness and Light, Into the Chaos!_**

Axton emptied another clip of his Dahl assault rifle before slipping it out and sliding a new one in. "Where the hell are they?" Axton demanded. The Vault Hunters had ECHOed the Hyperion duo in need of help. The Bloodshots had been easy enough to infiltrate, but there were SO DAMN MANY of them! Maya ducked behind a crate in the room before changing her magazine, sharing in the commando's annoyance. Those two were going to be in so much trouble when they got there.

...

Michel was slightly sweating as he faced down an angry red-headed siren. On the one hand, he would have loved to pop this traitorous bitch in the head. It wasn't easy to keep Jack good after Elpis thanks to her and Moxxie after all. On the other hand, killing Roland's girlfriend probably wasn't a good way to keep in his good graces. "So, Firehawk…" It was Jack who began, "Care to move aside so we can rescue your boyfriend with the other Vault Hunters?"

"Like I'm gonna believe _you two_ are here to help us." Lilith snapped back. "Why should I even trust you?"

"That's rich coming from the bitch who tried to blow up the increasingly paranoid psychopath. You _do_ realize how hard it was to keep Jack from turning the Moonshot on you as soon as he had control of Helios, right?" Michel laughed, pointing _Belladonna_ at the Siren. "The only reason you were never a direct target is because of me. I hope you remember that, you annoying little phasewalker." Using the barrel of his SMG to shove Lilith aside, he accessed the Fast-Travel terminal and scrolled through the options. "Looks like they turned it on. Let's go Jack. We have one of the few decent people on this planet to save."

Jack rolled his eyes, but knew better than to argue when Michel was this worked up. Passing Lilith, he flicked on the terminal and the Hyperion duo vanished in a flash of light, leaving a very pissed off redhead behind.

Michel could hear the gunfire from a few rooms away as he unslung _Sinon_ and holstered _Belladonna._ Motioning to Jack, the duo moved through the rooms with corpses already littering the area. Coming to Satan's Suckhole, the big room with the giant fan in the ground, they saw the Vault Hunters fighting up higher. Michel took aim and motioned Jack forward. The CEO nodded and began moving up the ramp before hearing the familiar BANG of his friend's rifle. Someone had just died.

Up on the top floor, Axton smirked as he watched a Nomad's head explode. "They're here!" he informed the others, who smirked as they redoubled their efforts to make it to Roland.

"Angel, how far out are those Loaders?" Michel asked, lining up another shot on a Badass Nomad.

He fired just before Angel answered, "I'd say about two hours. You need to be quick. I don't have a reading from Wilhelm, but..."

"I'll stay safe, don't worry." The enigma promised, firing another shot and dropping a psycho who was charging up behind Gaige. "Come on, give me a challenge at least." Michel complained, turning his attention to Mad Mike. "Shit, he has a TOURGE." he muttered, dodging away from the explosive shot and putting _Sinon_ over his shoulder, reaching for his waist holsters. **"Let's get dangerous!"** Michel laughed, unholstering his SMG and pistol before pointing both at the approaching nomad.

...

It took about an hour before the rather large Vault Hunter group made it to Roland's cell. Axton tested the door, of course locked, and caught the soldier's attention inside. "Ah, so you're the ones I've been hearing so much about. Name's Roland." he introduced just before a Loader crashed through the wall. "This'll just take a second." he excused before leaping toward the robot, knocking it over.

"Angel, I thought you said two hours." Jack snapped into his ECHO.

"This must be a scouting party, the W4RD3N is still out farthe...what? No, this can't be! How could they have tricked me?" the "AI" gasped.

"Angelus, quod suus 'iniuriam?" Michel asked.

"Deinceps ad novos ignes! Est falsum signum fuit!" Angel replied angrily.

"Was that latin?" Axton asked.

"We both speak it fluently. Kind of our thing." Michel replied as Roland blew the BUL Loader with a Gun Loader's arm. Roland began talking, not that Michel was listening as he watched through the hole.

Sure enough, the blue-and-white constructor grabbed Roland and made off with him before anyone could do much damage to it. An EXP Loader then came in and blew up the door with Blake going on about how "That was how Hyperion paid ransoms." as the Vault Hunters gave chase, weaving around Bandits and Loaders as the made for the Bloodshot Ramparts.

 **And done! Come on, anyone who's played the Pre-Sequel has to admit that Lilith had that chewing out and one far worse coming. The bitch tries to blow you up for Christ's sake! Also, no I'm not dead, I've just been hyper-focused on my Catgirl Gamer fic and started neglecting my other stories. Sorry about that.**

 **For anyone who isn't fluent in latin, Angel and Michel's conversation translates roughly to this:**

 **Angelus, quod suus 'iniuriam?" Angel, what's wrong**

 **"Deinceps ad novos ignes! Est falsum signum fuit!" The beacons jumped forward! It was a false signal!**


	7. Rescuing Roland Part 2

_**Hey, I'm back. Don't know for how long. Anyway, let's get this started.**_

 _ **Darkness and Light, Into the Chaos!**_

Weaving through the bandits and Loaders was surprisingly easy, the Vault Hunters and Hyperion duo leaving most of the killing to Kreig and Deathtrap, who they were sure would catch up later. They hoped so at least. "What the hell is the Guard doing here?" Jack demanded, firing at one of said robots.

"No idea, keep shooting." Michel replied, firing _Belladonna_ at a Repair Surveyer flying overhead, causing it to explode. True to form, five more Loaders showed up the second those two were dealt with. Thankfully, five Nomad Tyrants appeared as well, engaging the robots and letting the rescue squad move ahead.

After a while, another big issue appeared. "Badass Loader, take cover!" Jack yelled, diving for the blockade to his right. "Michel, time for the thing."

"Oh yeah. Gaige, toss the thing I gave you!" the enigma called. The mechromancer pulled out a small yellow disk, pressing the button in the middle before throwing it over the crate she and Axton had ducked behind. An EMP burst knocked the Badass Loader out and Sal and Maya unloaded on it, causing the accursed thing to split apart and the group was moving again.

...

"This is a problem." Zer0 declared, looking at the three, yes THREE, Badass Loaders standing guard over the W3RD-N.

"Just stay here and shoot that thing in the eye while we keep the attention of the others." Axton replied, patting the assassin's shoulder before reaching for his turret. " **Sentry Deployed!"** The turret, complete with new missile pods, began firing.

 **"To hell with the first law!"** Gaige cried, summoning Deathtrap.

 **"One Liner!"** Sal laughed, pulling a pair of shotguns he had grabbed along the way.

Michel's eyes flashed as he drew _Volcario._ " **It's time to** **kill!"** he cackled, leaping in and firing his weapons. Maya, Jack, and Zero just started shooting, the siren throwing in a Phaselock every now and again to do more damage to the modified constructor. Zer0 shot the giant robot's eye, effectively disabling its building process every time it tried, while everyone else alternated between killing the Loaders and damaging the constructor holding Roland, who was shouting suggestions and demands to release him.

Angel's voice cut in. "You're running out of time. Michel, can you get your ECHO hooked up to that thing?" she asked.

"I can try." the enigma replied, holstering his pistol and running for the giant robot. "Angel's got an idea, cover me!" he shouted to his companions. The gunfire intensified around him, signaling they had heard. An ION Loader got too close for comfort, but was quickly hacked apart by Krieg's ax.

The psycho cackled. "THE METAL BOXES NEED OPENING AND I'M A KID AT CHRISTMAS!" he declared joyfully, throwing his ax(was that dynamite?) at a nearby Loader, making it explode.

Michel grinned as he slit behind the Constructor before jumping on top. Flipping open the panel, he plugged his ECHO into the robot. "I'm in." he called.

"I'll only need a few seconds." Angel replied. "Executing Phase Shift."

More Loaders had come in, but with Angel hacking the constructor it wasn't so bad. Jack rolled his eyes as he hit his pocket-watch. "Hey, over here!" one of his clones called tauntingly. "You know you wanna shoot at this." another grinned.

"I have got to steal that watch and fix those lines." Michel muttered as he pulled _Sinon_ from its place on his back and began shooting off limbs. After the fifth shot, the W3RD-N slumped forward, the energy cage Roland was trapped in vanished and the soldier landed gracefully on the ground and tossed his turret out. "Is this thing disabled?" Michel questioned, reaching for his ECHO.

"Yes." Angel confirmed as her friend unplugged his device. "Blake will be hard-pressed to get this thing back online any time soon." she added smugly. It was only a few more minutes of fighting before the Loaders were all a pile of scrap metal at the group's collective feet.

"Well that was fun." Gaige declared with a bright smile, recalling Deathtrap.

"Thanks for the rescue Vault Hunters." Roland said, turning to his rescuers. He was surprised to see Jack and Michel, and his wide eyes showed it. "Looks like I have some catching up to do."

 _ **And done! Damn, this one is a lot shorter than the stuff I'm used to writing. And thanks to me playing my Borderlands 2 accounts….again, I'm probably back for a while. And side note, why the actual fuck were the Angelic Guard in the Bloodshot ramparts, Outwash, and many more when they're supposed to be in Control Core Angel almost exclusively? Is it just me, or is that super annoying? Anyway, leave a review of what you thought and I'll see everyone next time.**_


	8. A train to catch

_**Been playing Borderlands again, so I while I'm still in that mindset...**_

 _ **Darkness and Light, Into the Chaos!**_

Michel ignored most of the dirty looks Lilith shot him and Jack, fiddling with his ECHO as his boss explained the situation. "Honestly, I figured it was something like that." Roland admitted. "After what happened in Helios, I didn't think Michel would let you do what Blake's been doin in your name."

"Roland, you can't be serious!" Lilith shouted.

"I seem to remember you being the one unremorseful about almost blowing us up." Michel scoffed, slipping his ECHO back onto his belt. "I've got a lead on a shield core. If we get our hands on it, Sanctuary will be well protected until this whole thing dies down."

"Hey, we're still not letting you wake the Warrior!" Lilith snapped, glaring at the enigma.

"You can't stop me, and you know it." he replied, placing a hand on _Volcario._ "Look Lilith, I don't like you. And clearly you don't like me, but if we're gonna live long enough to stop Blake, we have to work together."

"He's right." Roland added, cutting off the siren's biting retort. "Plus they know where the Vault Key is, and where this Vault they're trying to dig up is located. They're the greatest assets we've got."

"Thanks Roland." Jack said happily. "Alright then, where are we going, Michel?" the CEO asked, rubbing his hands together.

"It's...on one of our trains in Tundra Express." Michel replied sheepishly. "We'll have to hijack it." Jack rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Yeah, I know. But unless you want to go get the Vault Key now, we need to fortify ourselves."

"Get the key now?" Roland asked.

"It's not ready Michel, and neither is she." Jack argued back. "You ran the numbers before we boarded that train, it's too risky."

"Exactly my point." Michel replied, loading _Belladonna._ "It's too risky to go after the key now, so we need that core. Unless you _want_ to be taken out by one of our satellite's mortar barrages, then I'm all for sticking around." he added sarcastically, grabbing his ECHO. "Angel, what's the status on Project: Tennessee Kid?" he asked.

"It's passing through the Tundra Express now, but you'll need help to get to it." Angel's voice came through. "Sounds like a job for explosives, am I right?"

"Probably." Michel acknowledged. "But check the Wildlife Preservation Preserve records. I wanna know how badly Blake's damaged that girl."

...

"Do we really need that alcoholic bird lover?" Jack asked, getting out of the bandit technical he had driven with Michel, Gaige, and Zer0.

"Unless you know a spot where Zer0 can cover us from any point until we get to Tina." Michel replied casually, checking the clip of _Volcario._ "Gaige and I can light the bastards up. Just be ready when we inject the pods with Hammerlock's little mixture." he called, everyone nodding as they brandished their weapons.

They entered Tundra Express, and walked into the varkid area, where the bug monsters swarmed them. "Yeah right." Michel scoffed as a Blood Varkid lunged at him before he shot the thing out of the sky. Gaige's fireball shotgun lit a couple more up, and Michel grinned when he heard the caw of Bloodwing, holding his ECHO close.

"So loud. So angry." he heard, then a pause as he looked up, seeing the sniper. "So dead." a loud bang followed soon after.

 **Mordecai**

 **And his BFF Bloodwing**

"Hey, sorry you had to wake me up. I think we celebrated a little too hard when we raided a Hyperion convoy." came Mordecai's voice. "Wait a sec, Jack?" the sniper gasped.

"Call Roland, we're not the bad guys...today." Michel replied quickly. He noticed an evolution pod and withdrew the injector, hitting the pod quickly. Hammerlock was talking about the majesty of the bugs or something like that and the Mutated Badass Varkid emerged. "Light him up!" Michel ordered, firing _Volcario._ The others followed suit, Mordecai firing his slag rifle to make the elemental weapons, and Maya's gas cloud, even more effective. Of course, eight-on-one the poor bug never stood a chance. As Zer0 grabbed the sample Hammerlock requested, Michel set to work reloading his gun and reaching for his ECHO. "Angel, tell me something good." he requested.

"The only good thing I can tell you is that she knew it was Blake funding the experiments with Slag. It's bad, Michel." Angel replied.

Michel cursed under his breath, turning to inform his boss of the possibly life-threatening problem.

...

In the end, Jack stayed outside with Axton, guarding the entrance from the bandits not too far from Tina's workshop as the rest entered the girl's workshop. "All around the stactus plant, the stalker chased the bandit. The stalker thought twas all in fun. POP!" Tina sang, blowing the bandit she had strapped to a steel panel holding dynamite up.

 **Tiny Tina**

 **World's deadliest 13 year old**

Tina took notice of the Vault Hunters. "Oh hai!" she greeted. "Roland told me you were comin. I still owe him for all that buttcrap with General Rancid. You need to hijack a train, huh? Child's play! Let me introduce you to my ladies." Michel just chuckled as Tina talked before turning and singing. "Running running running, I'm running over here. Run-run-run-run-run." The door to her garage opened and the Vault Hunters followed her in.

Gaige noticed the two stuffed bunnies and asked, "Who are these guys?"

Tina smiled. "This is Mushy Snugglebites, and this is Felicia Sexopants." the bomb maker introduced. Reactions varied from Maya's look of horror at the sexual names to Michel and Gaige's laughter at the crude joke. "These fine-ass damsels will help you get that train, but I'm gonna need their badonadonks first, and they got stole by the bandits a few days ago. GO GET EM!" Tina demanded. "Nap time!" she declared, leaping onto the bed and instantly falling asleep.

"What a cute kid." Michel chuckled.

 _ **And done! Next up we'll be raiding the bandit camp for the badonkadonks, and then... I'm deciding. Usually I do the train job and Sanctuary's takeoff, then the tea party, but I may divide the work between the Vault Hunters and Hyperion duo. What do you guys think? Leave a review and I'll see you all next time!**_


	9. Wilhelm and Tina

_**Darkness and Light, Into the Chaos!**_

Michel grabbed the missile on the table and heard Tina talk through his ECHO. "That's Mushy Snugglebites' badonkadonk. She's my main squeeze." the teen informed. "The girl's got a gut full of dynamite and a booty like POW!"

Michel and Gaige shared a laugh at Tina's explanation as they helped Axton down a Raging Goliath before it could power up. The Vault Hutners and Hyperion Duo fought their way through the various bandits to the back of the camp. "Got em, Tina."

"Awesome. Bring em back to me and we can hijack that train." Tina instructed.

…

"Hey Hyper. Got somethin to ask ya and mechi-mancer." Tina called after Maya grabbed the rabbits with high explosives strapped to their backs.

"We'll catch up in a sec guys." Gaige called.

"Well I have a big party coming up, and my date is missing, AND I AM NOT GOING STAG, DON'T EVEN SUGGEST IT!" Tina explained, shouting the last part angrily causing Gaige to flinch slightly. "His name is Sir Reginald von Bartlesbee, a local aristocrat and purveyor of the fine arts. I believe his mother has forbidden him from seeing me. You will convince her to release him into my custody."

"You can count on me." Michel promised.

"Sounds like fun." Gaige shrugged. "We should probably tell the others though." she pointed out.

After informing the rest of the group of what the pair were doing, Jack grinned mischievously. But it was Krieg who screamed, "MYSTERY MAN AND METAL GIRL WILL HAVE A HENTAI PARTY!"

"We most certainly will not!" Michel and Gaige screamed back, both red-faced.

"Well you kids have fun. Don't do anything I wouldn't do." Jack called, heading for the bandit camp across from Tina's workshop.

"Way to set the bar low, Jack." Michel snarked back.

"Then don't do anything Maya wouldn't do." Axton suggested.

"There you go." Gaige chuckled, turning to her companion. "So, shall we?"

…

"Please excuse Madame von Bartlseby." Tina apologized as the badass varkid climbed out of its hive. "She's a bitch."

"Forgot how big she was." Michel muttered, unholstering _Volcario._ " _Belladonna_ isn't going to do much against her, Gaige?"

" **Robot Violent Fun Time!"** the mechromancer cheered, summoning Deathtrap who proceeded to blast Madame von Bartlesby with his electric blast while Michel and Gaige started firing rounds from their pistol and shotgun respectively.

 _Maybe I should consider a shotgun for my fourth slot?_ Michel thought absently, reloading _Volcario_ and rolling out of the way of a varkid drone swarm. "Let's see if we can ground her." the enigma suggested, running to get a new angle on the airborn insect. But that proved ineffective as she flew out of range. "I hope the others are having a better time than us."

…

" **One Liner!"** Sal laughed, pulling out a second shotgun before unloading on the half-dead GUN Loader aiming at him.

"We got EXP Loaders." Jack warned, seeing said robots running down the path.

"Zero, draw their attention!" Axton ordered, the Assassin running to obey before activating his Decepti0n, drawing the first EXP Loader and sending the other two flying back.

" **Quiet!"** Maya demanded, Phaselocking the second and blowing it up with a few well-placed rounds from the "Good Touch" she had gotten from Moxxie.

Jack slammed his pocket watch, activating the Expendable Assets to draw the last Loader and cause it to explode harmlessly. "Nice hustle everyone! Now let's find that power core." Jack called, heading up the incline.

"I'm getting a familiar reading over there. Be careful." Angel warned.

Axton was the first to spot the power core, sitting next to one of the crashed train cars. "I'll get it!" he volunteered, running for the core. Then the train car started moving, and a giant human-loader thing appeared. "Oh shit!" Axton gasped, backpedaling quickly.

"Language!" Jack chided absently, flicking on his bracelets. "Wilhelm! Hey buddy. What's happening?" he asked nervously.

"I will kill all of you!" Wilhelm declared, shooting his auto-cannon. Jack leaped out of the way and began firing.

The Vault Hunters followed suit, Axton throwing out his turret, Maya trying to phaselock the giant cyborg, only to end up doing a bit of damage from the recoil. Zer0 retreated with his sniper, aiming at Wilhelm's head and firing with a corrosive sniper Michel had been experimenting with. The result was almost instant, the Vault Hunters' enemy screaming in pain.

"Blake will bring this world to heel!" the cyborg declared, spinning and knocking everyone close to him back.

…

"We've got the crumpets and metal, now we just need Fluffybutt and we're good to go." Gaige summarized.

"Alright then, this way." Michel replied, leading the way out of the bandit camp the pair had...emptied. Turned out there was a limit to the buzzards and bandits in this particular camp. Walking down the hill, Michel stopped Gaige after catching sight of a Killer Marauder, unslung _Sinon,_ and took careful aim. "Pop goes the bandit." he sung quietly, blowing off the guy's head. "Come on. I saw Fluffybutt while I was aiming."

After grabbing the doll with a grenade for a head, the pair made for Tina's workshop. Placing the doll and varkid in a jar in their spots, Michel turned to the teen. "It seems we're missing someone. Shall I fetch him?" he offered.

"Oh my gosh, you are right!" Tina gasped. "Please do, or I'll eat your babies. His name is Flesh-Stick, by the by...the by."

…

"We could really use Gaige and Deathtrap right about now!" Maya complained, firing her SMG at Wilhelm, still going strong despite the amount of bullets he had taken to various parts of his body. The Shield Surveyors he kept summoning were annoying as well.

"A deadly foe indeed/Bullets seem not to work well/ We need a new plan." Zero added.

" **POUNDS OF FLESH!"** Krieg screamed, charging with buzz-ax held high, throwing the dynamite attacked weapon at the cyborg and causing him to stagger.

" **Wanna meet my girlfriend?!"** Axton asked, throwing his turret and dodging around the charge of a BUL Loader. Said sentry started opening fire.

"He's taken a lot more damage than you think! Just keep shooting!" Jack ordered, firing his blaster bracelets and deploying the Expendable Assets to throw Wilhelm off before rushing him and deploying a shock nova.

…

"Time for the mother-humpin tea party!" Tina cheered, pointing to Michel. "You're going to be the waiter. Just pull the lever on Mister Sparks when you're ready to start."

"What about me?" Gaige asked, glancing at the table as Tina took her seat.

"You can be the waitress if you want. I think we may need a doorman as well after all." Michel replied, smirking.

"Hyper's right!" Tina gasped. "I can't believe I didn't think of that! Very well, Mechy, if you don't mind?"

"Sure!" Gaige replied, pulling the lever.

"I bet your mommy and daddy screamed when they died!" Flesh-Stick mocked.

Michel took his position by the door, unholstering _Volcario._ He'd need it if this was going to be anything like the tea party he knew. He heard Gaige slap the psycho and Michel watched for the rest of the guests, grinning as the first came into sight. Aiming carefully at the rushing psycho nearest him, he squeezed the trigger.

…

"Holy crap! Did you just kill Wilhelm?" Roland asked over the ECHO. "God damn, Blake doesn't stand a chance!"

"Of course he doesn't." Jack replied, "He's the bad guy in this story after all. We're the heroes."

"True enough. Now get that power core and we can discuss the Vault Key." Roland ordered, cutting the connection.

"Let's go pick up the kiddos." Axton suggested. The others nodded and headed back for Tina's Workshop.

…

"Gaige, I seem to have more guests than I can welcome myself!" Michel called, reaching for _Belladonna._ **"Time to say Good-bye!"** he called, firing both weapons at the first approaching Badass Goliath.

" **Frag em, Babe!"** Gaige called from within, sending her robot to aid her friend while firing her shotgun at one of the marauders that had gotten past Michel's "Greeting" at the front door. The pair had gotten through the first two waves of "guests" without much issue, but this last wave required the continued aid of both Michel's **Double Trouble** and Deathtrap, as badass after badass appeared at the door. And Michel couldn't risk getting shot at by the goliath carrying the big-ass gun unless he wanted the shield he had apparently built out of a Loader core while running some pizza to some rats for Tannis.

"Sorry boss, I'm gone." said shield apologized. Michel cursed as he ducked behind one of the rocks and waited for it to recharge.

It took some doing, but eventually Flesh-Stick's friends lay dead and Tina smiled at the table as the enigma rejoined her and Gaige, Deathtrap close behind. "Ah, the hour grows late, and I'm afraid we must bid Mister Flesh-Stick adeu." the bomb-maker declared.

"I remember you, kid! You should be dead!" Flesh-Stick realized.

"What an interesting point Mister Flesh-Stick. Mister Sparks, what do you think?" Tina asked, smiling cruelly as she reached for the power control, turning it up to max and reaching for the lever.

"No, I'm sorry I sold out your parents, I'm sorry!" Flesh-Stick begged. Tina was heedless as she pulled the lever, Flesh-Stick dissolving on an almost atomic level.

"Best tea party ever." Tina whispered, smiling.

"Hey Michel, we got the core. Meet us in Sanctuary to install it." Jack's voice came over his subordinate's ECHO.

"On our way, boss." Michel replied, ruffling Tina's hair. "See you later, Tina." the enigma said with a smile.

"See ya shorty."


	10. Sanctuary Bombardment

_**Now I know what you're thinking, since Angel is really on the Vault Hunters' side, the shield core is fine, right? Well...…**_

 _ **Darkness and Light, Into the Chaos!**_

Michel checked the clip on his _Volcario._ "I get the feeling something bad is gonna happen." he muttered. "From what Jack said, Wilhelm was acting really weird."

"I checked the core, it has a Hyperion uplink I can access just in case." Angel informed. Michel nodded in acceptance, but still glanced upward nervously at the Helios station. "Nolite ergo solliciti esse, Michel. Omnia autem elaborare." Angel assured.

"Spero autem, Angel." Michel sighed in reply. He, Maya and Krieg walked out with the core on the psycho's shoulder and up to the power station.

Davis regarded Michel and the core skeptically. "Much as I hate using Hyperion tech, the power core you brought us is almost burned out. Better get it plugged in." he suggested. Maya hit the button, Michel grabbed the old core, and Krieg placed the new one in. "Alright, that should do it." Davis declared.

"Hello Michel." Came a venomous hiss.

Michel looked onto the screen and cursed. "Felicity. How?" he asked, activating the communicator on his ECHO.

"Blake found my old data and put me in the core. Now to make you pay for trying to kill me." Felicity hissed. The beams from the pillars vanished and Michel pulled Davis out of the way of the first Moonshot blast as he dove off the station deck.

"What the hell? Did something just get through the shield?" Roland demanded.

"Roland! The core was a trick! The shields are down!" Davis warned.

"Krieg, Maya, with me!" Michel ordered, getting to his feet. "Davis, help with the evacuation! The rest of you help however Roland and Lilith need you! Angel!"

"I'm on it!" Angel replied quickly. "Executing Phase Shift."

Michel and company ran for town square as Lilith spoke over the ECHOs. "Everyone, I have a really bad idea. Scooter, get Sanctuary in the air, Roland, get me some Eridium."

"We can't do that without killing, I don't know, everyone in the city!" Scooter argued. "It ain't ready to fly, Lily!"

"You have your orders Scooter, move!" Roland ordered.

"We're here, Scooter, what do we need to do?" Michel asked, sliding to a stop next to the mechanic.

"Alright, if we cycle the ignition primers it'll...it'll get us somewhere!" Scooter replied, obviously panicking.

"Maya, get on that one!" Michel ordered, pointing to one of the engines while he sprinted for the other. "Guys, how's that Eridium coming?" Michel asked over his ECHO.

"Almost got what we need. Be there soon." was Axton's reply. Michel cycled the ignition primer, nodding in satisfaction before another moonshot hit a little too close for comfort. "Shit, Roland's pinned!" Axton informed.

"Then use your turret to blast off the rubble and get him to Zed's. The rest of you get us that eridium or we're all dead!" Michel barked angrily. Gaige and Jack appeared a few seconds later. "Zer0?" Michel asked.

"Helping Axton." Gaige replied, instinctually covering her head when another moonshot hit. "This is really bad."

"Angel?" Michel asked.

"I'm trying, but Felicity's tough." Angel replied. "Get yourselves in the air! It's the best way to save anyone in the city!"

Michel tsked ang gestured toward Lilith. Gaige handed over the nuggets and Lilith nodded before putting her hands on the Sanctuary pillar. "You may want to hold onto something, I've never used this much before." the redheaded siren warned. Her tattoos flared to life, and all the vault hunters' visions went purple.

...

Michel watched the city vanish, barely holding back the urge to shout as many curses in as many languages as possible. "Angel, tell me something good." Michel practically begged.

"Axton and Zer0's ECHOs are still active. I'm reading them over the Highlands." Angel informed.

"Which means we're going through the Fridge." Michel sighed. "You know what to do."

"Right." Angel replied, and she was gone.

"Alright people, let's get moving. Sooner we get through the Fridge, sooner we get back to Sanctuary." Jack called, waving everyone toward the Catch-a-Ride.

...

While Michel was sitting in the turret seat of a Technical, Blake's voice came through everyone's ECHOs. "So, what did you think of my little surprise, Jack? I found the old data from the Constructor creation records and had some computer monkeys recreate the original AI, And boy did she have a grudge against you. I hardly even needed to convince her to help me corrupt Wilhelm's processors and hide in that core." he mocked. "You didn't just get soft, Jack, you got stupid. This is exactly why I decided to boot you off that train."

"Yeah, well you still don't know where the Key is, Jimmy, so I still got one over on you." Jack retorted. "And you still didn't destroy Sanctuary, something I woulda done easily if I were the one in charge there. So I guess I'm still the better guy here, huh?"

"Oh? And who said I don't know where you're keeping the Vault Key?" Blake asked smugly.

Jack and Michel shared a fearful look. "You're bluffing." Jack hissed.

"Oh? Tell me, Jack, why is it you send all your eridium to a Hyperion Blacksite in Thousand Cuts?" Blake asked.

"That was under ten tons of encryption! Not even Angel could crack it." Michel muttered. "Angel, check your tower's defenses. Any trace of a hack." he ordered.

"Uh oh." was the reply two seconds later.

"Blake, if you hurt her I promise to make your death slow." Michel hissed.

"I put no stock in the threat of a simple dog like you, boy." Blake replied, cutting the connection.

"Floor it!" Jack and Michel shouted to the other four Vault Hunters, driving in their own Technical.

 _ **Dun dun dunnnn! Well, shit is getting real. What did you guys think? Good? Bad? Not enough? Leave a review and tune in next time to see Michel and company blast their way through the Fridge and the Highlands.**_


	11. Rush to Sanctuary

_**Darkness and Light, Into the Chaos!**_

Michel ducked behind cover, growling in annoyance. "Freaking Rats." he complained, his hand reaching for _Belladonna._

 **"Super Robot Violent Fun time!"** Gaige cheered, deploying Deathtrap, who butchered one of the rats with a spinning attack. Gaige laughed maniacally. "Best Robot ever!" she cheered.

"Maya, we've got a Lab Rat!" Jack warned, firing his bracelets at said mutant.

 **"Just stay still!"** Maya ordered, phaslocking the rat as she opened fire.

 **"Blood makes the grass grow!"** Michel screamed, leaping for cover.

" **Eat lead, pendjeos!"** Sal cackled, pulling out an SMG to go with his AR.

" **Pounds. Of. Flesh!"** Krieg roared, charging into the fray. Michel began shooting his SMG at the rats to his left, while sniping the ones on his right with shots from his pistol. Deathtrap used his explosive clap to knock the rats into Krieg's ax and Sal's heavy fire. Soon enough, the rats lay dead. "THE MICE SQUEAK NO MORE!" Krieg called, holding his ax up in victory.

"Let's go. The Highlands are this way." Michel called, waving the group down the hill toward another encampment of rats as he reloaded his guns. "Sooner we get there, sooner we can talk to Roland about getting to Control Core Angel."

"What's so important about this Control Core place?" Maya asked.

"It's where the Vault Key is being charged." Michel explained. "And it's under Blake's control right now. That is something that cannot stand."

"Michel, you know she's not ready to be taken out." Jack warned.

"I've thought of something for that already, but I need to get back to Sanctuary to get the info I need to make it work." Michel argued. "Don't forget why I'm doing all of this, Jack." he hissed, cutting off any argument as he opened fire on the rats down the hill from him.

 _Flashback, about three weeks before meeting the Vault Hunters_

Michel clicked on a couple windows, closing them before he spun in his chair. "Looks like the Key is eighty percent charged. Even better than we expected given the lower eridium yield we've been using." he informed, standing and walking to the edge of the force field. "So, what do you wanna do once you get out of this damned tower?" he asked.

"I- I want to see the universe." Angel replied from the other side. Floating down to eye-level with the enigma, she smiled. "I want to see what's beyond these walls, maybe even have an adventure of my own." she admitted quietly, but Michel heard her all the same.

"Let's do that then." he suggested. Angel's eyes widened in surprise. "What do you say?"

"D-don't tease me." Angel muttered, blushing and looking away.

"I'm not joking." Michel replied deadpan. "Once the whole business with the Warrior is over and you're out of this veritable fortress, I'll take you on an adventure, just the two of us. I promise." Michel smiled at the hopeful look Angel was giving him.

 _"Michel, where the hell are you? I need you at Helios, now."_ Jack's voice cut through the room.

Michel sighed, grabbing it from his belt. "Yeah yeah, I'm on my way. Just let me finish what I'm doing here." he replied, stepping away from the forcefield. "I guess I'll see you soon." he sighed, turning to leave.

"See you soon, Michel." Angel replied, her friend's promise ringing in her ears.

 _Flashback ends_

"I won't break my promise." he muttered angrily as the elevator began decending. "Ah, screw it. Geronimo!" he shouted, jumping off the elevator and landing in front of the ammo dump and health machine.

...

"Did that thresher just eat the beacon?" Angel asked incredulously. "Um, you're gonna need to get that back." she informed lamely.

"Yeah, we kinda figured that, pumpkin." Jack replied dryly, trying to blast the sudden shield the thresher had away with his shock bracelets. Michel almost cursed at his rotten luck. On top of the Fast Travel station being unable to connect due to Lilith's Phaseblast, the Vault Hunters accidentally knocked off Sanctuary needed an uncalibrated Fast Travel station. And to get that, they needed the lunar supply beacon on the other side of the eridium processing plant where they had to fight through bots, workers, and a freaking Constructor. Michel may have gone berserk on it due to Felicity's attack on Sanctuary.

As Michel rolled out of the way of one of the thresher's tentacles, he decided now was as good a time as any to try out the gun he had been working on. Putting a hand next to his ECHO, a shotgun took form. It was a standard Hyperion shotgun, except for two major factors. First was the black and gray coloring all along the barrel, as well as the blue wings painted on the stock. The other factor was the large script reading _Celestial Wrath_ across the side of the barrel. _Lets see how that thing's shield holds up against_ this. he thought, pulling the trigger and smiling in satisfaction as it shattered. He reached for _Volcario_ on his belt. " **Party Time, Bitch!"** he called, opening fire with his shotgun and pistol.

Maya growled in annoyance as Michel once again executed an enemy with little effort. Sure he had been one of Jack's Vault Hunters back on Elpis, but this was insane! "You've got to let us kill them every once in a while, you know." she called as the thresher died, spitting up the beacon. She phaselocked and dispatched an EXP Loader charging Jack before dispatching it with ease.

"Then shoot faster next time." Michel replied indifferently, seeing Krieg pick up the beacon and put it over one shoulder. "Come on, we need a quiet place to get this done. Angel?"

"Overlook seems to be your best bet." the "AI" informed. Nodding, everyone set out.

 _ **And done! Well, next time we'll see if the Vault Hunters manage to get back to Sanctuary or not. So...what did people think? Good? Bad? Not enough? And for anyone wondering, Celestial Wrath is a hyperion shock shotgun on par with a blue level 40 or so gun of its making. So, I guess leave a review and I'll see everyone next time!**_


	12. Return to Sanctuary

_**Darkness and Light, Into the Chaos!**_

"Krieg and Maya, set up the beacon. The rest of you, get ready for some company." Jack ordered. The Siren and Psycho nodded as they took up position.

"I'm calibrating the beacon, just give me a few seconds." Angel informed.

"Got it, thanks Angel." Michel replied, reloading _Belladonna_ before turning to face the entrance of the town. "Weapons ready, people. They'll be coming any minute now"

"More like any second." Felicity's voice came over the ECHOnet. The Loaders came in soon after. "You'll pay for what you did to me, Jack. You and your Vault Hunter friends will all _pay_." the AI spat.

"If we had more time, we would have scanned you like you wanted. None of us liked it, Felicity." Michel barked, firing at the approaching HOT Loader. The robot exploded, knocking the enigma back. "Angel, how are we doing?"

"Felicity's fighting me. I'll do what I can, but expect a long day." Angel informed.

Michel cursed under his breath. "You heard her, dig your heels in and get ready for a war!" he shouted.

"PUNDS. OF. FLESH!" Krieg screamed, charging at the approaching GUN Loaders. "COMPUTER GIRL SENT BOOM BOXES!" he warned.

Luckily, it made enough sense to the Siren of the group, who phaselocked an approaching EXP Loader.

" **Kick 'em in the Pistons!"** Gaige ordered, digistructing Deathtrap.

" **One** **Liner!** " Sal cackled, pulling out a second shotgun.

Deciding that was a good idea, Michel reached for _Celestial Wrath._ " **Welcome to my Apocalypse!"** he snarled, unloading the SMG with one hand and the shotgun with the other before ducking behind the statue of Jack to reload. "This would be so much easier with my Vibra-Pulse." he complained.

"They've damaged the beacon!" Angel reported urgently.

"Jack!" Michel barked.

"On it!" Jack replied, cloaking and throwing out his Expendable Assets. The beacon was repaired, and the second wave came in. "Son of a taint." the CEO swore.

"Constructors!" Michel called.

Krieg cackled madly as he began throwing exploding buzz saw axes at said robot. "Save some for me, amigo!" Sal complained, leaping into the fray with Michel taking shots with _Sinon_ back next to the beacon. Jack continued shooting his bracelets at the still-approaching Loaders, which were beginning to overwhelm the pair. "Tossing a ballbuster!" Sal shouted.

"Didn't he have the corrosive singularities?" Maya asked, her question answered a second later as multiple bots were pulled back and splashed with acid.

"I've almost got the Fast-Travel ready, I just need a minute." Angel's voice cut through the battle via ECHOs.

"We don't have a minute!" Maya shouted back. "Look out, Badass!" she warned, aiming the _Bad Touch_ she got from Moxxie at the approaching Loader.

"I'LL SHOW YOU WHAT A BADASS IS!" Krieg shouted, charging the giant robot.

"Shit, DT's out!" Gaige called, watching her robot be destroyed by a pair of EXP Loaders.

"Language." Jack chided idly, short-circuiting an ION Loader. "Not sure how that worked, but I ain't complaining!" he laughed, turning his attention to a WAR Loader. "Yeah, Mich was right. I was compensating." he muttered, rolling out of the way of the missiles aimed at him.

"Alright, let's see how you survive this one." Felicity mocked.

"Super Badass! Everyone find cover!" Angel warned. "The Fast Travel is on its way, just a few more seconds!"

"Need a hand?" came a familiar voice. A flash of purple and three familiar figures appeared.

" **Sentry Deployed!"** one shouted, throwing said weapon out.

 **"I disappear/ A ghost amidst the combat/ Preparing to strike."** came the infuriating haiku before the second vanished.

"Ax, Zer0! Man am I glad to see you guys!" Michel sighed in relief. "Lilith, never thought I'd be happy to see you." he added.

"Never thought I'd be saving you, but Angel says you know something that'll help us beat Blake." Lilith replied, phaseblasting one of the Loaders while pulling out her Combustion Hellfire.

The statue exploded in the next few seconds, and a Fast Travel sat in its place. "I'll have it ready in twenty seconds max." Angel promised.

"You have ten. Felicity's throwing multiple Badasses at us." Jack replied, firing his bracelets.

"It's nine against five, you can manage." Angel huffed, setting to work. More bots fell as Zer0 started taking shots with the corrosive DAHL rifle he had gotten from Mordecai before coming down. Axton fired an AR he had borrowed from Roland, Michel fired his _Belladonna,_ Gaige fired the Torgue Shotgun she had picked out of a stalker pile, Maya continued firing _Bad Touch,_ and Krieg just swung his ax at anything getting close enough. Sal threw a couple grenades, bunching the bots together so they could be picked off.

"Angel, how's it going with that thing?" Michel asked.

"Done! Everyone get to Sanctuary!" Angel ordered gleefully.

"You heard the lady! Everyone get your asses to the Fast Travel!" Michel ordered, grabbing _Celestial Wrath_ from where a lucky GUN Loader's shot had knocked it from his hand. "I'll cover you! **Let's get violent!"**

"I'll help you out there, Killer." Lilith offered, firing her favorite SMG. Everyone got through, Lilith going after Michel with a nod. "Everyone make it okay?" the redheaded siren asked.

"All alive, thanks." Jack replied, surprised he meant it.

...

"So, Angel tells us you know where the Vault Key is." Roland greeted the Hyperion duo.

"That's his way of saying 'Glad you're alive.'" Lilith translated with an eye roll.

"Right. Look, I'm not gonna lie, we're in a jam here. Sure Sanctuary isn't being barraged anymore, but we still don't have the Key or know when it's gonna be charged."

"It's been what? Two weeks since we came to Sanctuary?" the enigma asked. "It'll be ready in another two. But the more pressing matter is that Blake seems to have located it. And with it, Angel." Michel sighed. "I need to talk to Zed and Tannis about how to keep her alive if things go south in there. Let's hope it won't come to that, though." he added.

"Michel, she's not ready to be taken out." Jack argued. "Removing her from the tower now will most likely kill her. It's too risky."

"And while she's in there, Blake can work on an override to our fail-safes and up the eridium dosage." Michel retorted. "We're damned if we do and damned if we don't. But either way, we'll need help. Between the Wall and the BNK3R, there's a shit-ton of soldiers and robots."

"I can help with that!" Roland offered.

"Slab King, right?" Michel guessed, to which Roland just nodded dumbly. "Yeah, but those bandits aren't going to be enough on their own." he muttered. "I need to do some thinking. In the meantime, I suggest everyone rest up and resupply. Gonna be a long few days." The group dispersed.

 _ **And done! Reaching a big battle here, if you couldn't tell. Gotta do a few things, but it should be ready to go before long. So I guess leave a review of what you thought, and I'll see everyone next time!**_


End file.
